MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Ruben Rosario
rrosario@pioneerpress.comtwincities.com
Posted: 02/27/2013
You can’t get more red-blooded American macho than Al Chesley. Now 55, he is still — at 6 feet 3 inches and at least 250 pounds — a bear of a man, a former NFL middle linebacker nicknamed “Mad Dog” who played on a Philadelphia Eagles team that went to the Super Bowl.
But at age 13, he was but a child — putty in the hands of a larger-than-life and revered neighborhood police officer who loosened him up with booze, showed him porn flicks, then molested and raped him for nearly five years.
“He told me that he wanted to teach me how to become a man — how ironic,” Chesley said this week about his childhood molestation. It took him more than three decades to overcome the guilt and shame to brave speaking about his victimization.
“I thought I would go to my grave (without coming forward),” he said. “Any kind of abuse is horrible. But when a man abuses a boy, I think it’s just extra horrible. It screws you up as a man. It kills your spirit.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.